Ruidoso opinion

State lottery scholarship must be kept solvent

Few bills passed by the New Mexico Legislature in the last few decades have had as much positive impact on the state as the lottery scholarship program.

Passed in 1996, the program has allowed thousands of New Mexico students to graduate from college - many of them the first in their families to do so, and coming from economic backgrounds that would have made a college degree far out of reach financially without the help from the scholarship.

The scholarships are funded through proceeds generated by the New Mexico Lottery.

But, even with legislation a few years ago streamlining the lottery administration and directing a larger percentage of revenue to the scholarship fund, it is still projected to run out of money in the next fiscal year, according to a report by the Legislative Finance Committee.

Sen. Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, one of the original creators of the scholarship fund, said recently that changes will need to be made to keep the program solvent.

Sanchez said he would support means testing - setting an income level cutoff for who would be eligible for the scholarship - over merit testing, noting his own lackluster record as a high school student. Certainly, students from low-income homes are the ones who are most in need of help and where the scholarship can make the biggest difference.

But, academic excellence should be rewarded as well.

The current qualifications for the scholarship are not difficult to meet.

A student must be a New Mexico resident who has graduated from a New Mexico public high school or an accredited private school or obtained a New Mexico GED.

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The student must enroll full time in a New Mexico public college in the first regular semester after their high school graduation and must maintain a grade point average of 2.5 or better.

There is an exception for students who go directly from high school to the military.

The scholarship covers tuition only. Students still have to pay for fees, books and other costs of living.

We commend the LFC for raising the red flag on the depletion of the scholarship fund, and urge lawmakers to work with high school and college administrators to make the adjustments needed to keep the fund solvent while still helping those students who are most deserving and most in need.

The changes need to be made this session to ensure that students in New Mexico high schools now have the same opportunities as their older peers, or as close to them as possible, and know ahead of time what new requirements they will have to meet.